Mike Whaley: Bert — this one’s for you

Wednesday

Dec 12, 2012 at 3:15 AM

Any way you look at it, it’s going to be an emotional season for the Newmarket High School boys basketball team. There’s no way around it.

The Mules opened their season last Friday with a convincing win at Portsmouth Christian Academy. But the junior varsity and varsity benches no doubt felt a little emptier without the familiar presence of Robert “Bert” McGloughlin Sr.

Bert, a popular Newmarket JV coach and varsity assistant since 2002, died on March 5 from complications after having open heart surgery. He was 44.

This year’s Newmarket team has dedicated the season in Bert’s memory.

“We actually had a meeting this year, a sleepover in the gym,” said senior guard Christian Hawkins. “We talked about dedicating the season to Coach. It was hard after he died to come out and play in a playoff game.”

Bert’s death came on the eve of Newmarket’s semifinal game against Littleton at Plymouth State University. They lost, 68-61. Bert’s son Robert Jr. was on the team.

“All the years I’ve been coaching, I’ve never been more proud of a team than I was that night at Plymouth State,” said Newmarket coach Jamie Hayes, a close friend of Bert’s.

“He wasn’t just a coach,” said Christian Filion, a player on last year’s team. “He was a dad to me, a teacher, a mentor. It was hard for everyone.”

Robert Jr. spoke emotionally about his dad last spring. “My dad wouldn’t want us to lay down and feel sorry (for ourselves). He’d want us to go out and give it our best shot; try our hardest to win. Don’t play feeling sorry and sad. Play with that pride. My dad had Newmarket pride and so much of it. He just wanted everyone to succeed.”

Moving forward hasn’t been easy, certainly for Hayes who grew up with Bert.

“My dad coached him,” he said. “His dad coached me. We had a great working relationship, as well as a great friendship.”

Hayes mentioned watching game tape from last season last week and seeing Bert sitting next to him on the bench.

“It was a little difficult for me for a couple of minutes,” Hayes said.

Newmarket almost didn’t get Bert as a JV coach, according to his stepson, Ryan Norton. It was the beginning of the 2002-03 basketball season and Ryan was a freshman on the JV team. As Norton recalled, the coach showed up for the first day of practice, but never came back.

“The varsity coach at the time said if we don’t have a JV coach there will be no team,” Norton said. “(Bert) was like, ‘we can’t have that.’ He said he’d do it.”

Norton, 24, is a 2006 Newmarket graduate, who still lives in Newmarket with his family. Like Bert, Norton has taken an interest in coaching. He coaches freshman baseball at Winnacunnet High School where he applies some of the same coaching techniques he learned from Bert.

“He was somebody who cared so much about everyone else succeeding,” Norton said. “He wanted to see progress. He didn’t care if you went 0-16 as long as you played better. I’m taking the same approach. You want to see signs of improvement, but the record doesn’t matter. It was about progress, more than winning, especially at the sub-varsity level.”

It’s an approach that served Bert well, coaching the right way, working effectively off Hayes as the head coach.

“You get up suddenly and he’s there coaching and he’s right next to you,” Hayes said last week about watching game film before the season opener. “And you think we’re not going to have that when we go out Friday night. The guys are doing a good job staying focused.”

Former Newmarket player and 2007 graduate Andrew Kongmany is the new JV coach, taking over for a man he once played for. In a way, Kongmany has been groomed for the position.

“He helped Bert coach the last three years,” Hayes said. “He was going to UNH and helping when he was home at times. … He’s doing a really good job The guys know him. The guys like him. He knows our system. If Bert could have hand-picked his replacement it would have been Andrew.”

Hayes paused and then added: “Bert told me in a couple of years (Andrew’s) going to be ready. If he’s ready and wants to do it, I’ll just be your assistant. He did kind of hand pick him. You don’t always have the opportunity to do that. I think Bert would really be proud of the person we put in his position.”

Newmarket has had some very good success the past five years. Five trips to at least the semifinals, and two championship appearances. The only thing missing is a championship. It could happen this season with a talented senior-laden team.

“We wish he was here,” Hayes added. “Eventually we’re going to win a championship here. We hoped that he would be here to see it and be able to celebrate it with us. It’s been difficult.”

So the Mules move forward, eyeing a long season and a potential run to the championship in March. Bert will be there in the back of everyone’s minds.

“It’s going to be a bittersweet year,” Hayes added. “You dedicate the season, but I’d rather have him here with us.”

Mike Whaley is the Sports Editor for Foster’s Daily Democrat and the Rochester Times. He can be reached at mwhaley@fosters.com.